Broke Again
Playing poker for a living can be a very unstable profession. Unexpected things happen all the time that can cut into your playing bankroll, leaving you shorter than you'd like - anything from an untimely losing streak to car repairs.

Daniel - Poker Journal

The Random Blog

09 Oct 2005

I seriously had no clue what to call the following blog. Maybe after you finish reading it you can come up with some suggestions and post them in the forum at www.fullcontactpoker.com.

So anyway, what have I been up to, let's see.. oh ok, now I remember. I was over at Aladdin on Thursday and Friday to shoot a special for MTV all about STACKED. It's going to be a half hour show that basically let's everyone know how cool poker is, blah, blah, blah.

On Thursday I met my co-host, Susie Castillo, also known as Miss USA 2003. She was also a bit of a poker player herself and is now working as a VJ for MTV.

We shot the afternoon stuff in the casino and then headed to the high limit are to meet with the STACKED crew. I was so happy to see everyone there. Carlos Mortensen, Jennifer Harman, Josh Arieh, Erick Lindgren, David Williams, and Evelyn Ng all showed up to be a part of the show.

The whole shoot was a lot of fun. We all get along so well together and it's a nice feeling to be around friends that you really like.

We wrapped the show at around 10:00pm and had dinner at the Steak House there. The conversation was fun and the wine was flowing. We ordered a few bottles of Caymus special reserve and when we emptied the restaurant of the Caymus, we switched to Opus One. Yum yum.

I had to cut the night short while the others hung out later since I had to be up at 7:30am to shoot more for the special.

We had a couple celebrities involved with the final segment, but I'm not allowed to tell you who- sorry!

Since I can't go into detail about who I was hanging with, let's just say it was a fun evening. We wrapped the whole shoot at around 9:00pm and the show will likely air in a couple months.

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Yesterday I headed over to E-DOG's house which is always a mad house on Saturdays. There is college football on all of the screens, food everywhere, random people on one of the many computers in the living room, people playing hoops, air hockey, pool, and others just lounging on the sofa.

I stopped by to take in some football and hang for a little while. I headed home, though, so I could watch my Tivo'd hockey game: Toronto/Montreal.

Lori wanted to watch some TV also, so I watched the game in fast forward, slowing down for the goals.

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Today I vegged out on the couch watching NFL football. This week my fantasy team is up against Josh Arieh and Brian Balsbaugh's team (they are sharing) and Josh laid me 7 points on the game.

Sure I was without Kurt Warner, Preist Holmes, and Joe Horn, but I thought, why not!

As it stands now, I'm down by about 4 points (locking up the bet) and have both Rudi Johnson and Chris Perry working for me in the late game. I'm looking good to go 3-2.

I spent a bigger part of the day working on my fantasy hockey team, the Cheap Thieves. I traded the last remaining player from my original team 11 years ago, Radek Bonk for last year's playoff here Ruslan Fedetenko. I also called up Corey Perry and Raffi Torres up to the team.

As it was a day of multi-tasking for me, I also decided to play an online tournament at the same time. I could use the practice, as most of you can see I haven't played much poker lately... calling all challengers!!!!! :-)

I got lucky on my first double up calling a raise with Qh Jh and hitting a flop of Kh-10-3. My opponent bet the flop and I moved in. He called with K-Q and I hit the 9h on the turn and an ace on the river. I hit the straight twice.

From there I played a few coin flip situations. The first one I raised from late position with Ad Kd and the big blind moved all with Qc Qs- I called.

The flop came Qd Jd 6d giving me the nut flush and my opponent top set. The turn was a Q giving him quads and I was thinking, "Will my first ever royal flush be up against quads?" Nope.

The nest hand I played was Qh Qs and again the big blind moved all in on me. I called, and he had Kc Ks. This time the flop came Ac 10c 3c giving me one out in the deck.

The turn was the Qc! Now I needed the board to pair but it wasn't meant to be.

To stay afloat I took advantage of a weak player on my right, making this same play a few times:

He limped for 400 from the SB and I checked with Jd 8h. The flop came 10d 7d 7c. He bet 400 and I called. The turn came another 10 and he bet 400 again.

I didn't think he had any of that, but rather than raise him now I wanted to see what he'd do on the river so I just called. The river was the Qs and he bet 400 again!

"No way this guy has a full house," I thought, and raised him 2000 more. He thought for a few seconds and mucked. I did that same thing to him like three times!

With over 3000 players in the event I was able to make the money, but lost the key hands that I needed to win to make a run at it. I think I played "ok", but frankly, I wasn't exactly too focused on giving it my absolute best.

Not with the fantasy football and fantasy hockey stuff I was working on. So now I'm left with one sweat on the day, my football game. I'm down 80.76 to 77.41 with five minutes left in the third quarter. It's going to be close, but I like my chances.

Later tonight I think Lori and I are going to check out a move that I'm excited to see. It's called Two for the Money and it's all about sports betting and stuff like that which is right up my alley.

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